China Guide
The Northwest
The Mogao Caves
Opening time: Daily 8.30–11.30am & 2.30–5.30pm
Price: ¥180 May– Sept, ¥100 Oct– April
Address: 25km southeast of Dunhuang (30min by minibus; ¥10)
The Mogao Caves are one of the great archeological discovery stories of the East. The first-known Buddhist temples within the boundaries of the Chinese empire, supposedly established in 366 AD by a monk called Lie Zun, they were a centre of culture on the Silk Road right up until the fourteenth century, and today contain religious artworks spanning a thousand years of history. Chinese Buddhism radiated out to the whole Han empire from these wild desert cliffs, and with it – gradually adapting to a Chinese context – came the artistic influences of Central Asia, India, Persia and the West.
Of the original thousand or more caves, over six hundred survive in recognizable form, but many are off limits, either no longer considered to be of significant interest or else containing Tantric murals deemed too sexually explicit for visitors. Of the thirty main caves open to the public, you are likely to manage only around fifteen in a single day. The Research and Exhibition Centre opposite the car park holds eight replica caves and is worth visiting to study the murals under good light.
What makes the caves so interesting is that you can trace the development of Chinese art over the centuries, from one dynasty to the next. The earliest caves were hewn out in the fourth and fifth centuries AD during the Northern Wei (386–581), a dynasty formed by Turkic-speaking people known as the Tobas, and their walls display a mass of tiny terracotta Buddhas brilliantly painted; many of the murals depict narratives.
The Tang-dynasty caves (618–906) are the artistic zenith, with statuary including warriors as well as finely worked Bodhisattvas. For sheer size, their Buddhas are the most famous, notably the astonishing 34-metre-high seated Buddha dressed in the traditional dragon robe of the emperor. The Tang paintings range from huge murals depicting scenes from the sutras to vivid paintings of individuals. Towards the end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1260–1368), Mogao was abandoned. Tibetan-style Lamaist (or Tantric) figures were later introduced, and in the fashion of Indian Buddhist painting, were shown in the ultimate state of enlightenment, graphically represented by the state of sexual union.